The first dinghy sailing day for 2018 was held on Sunday 28 January in the strangest weather conditions! The boys had to contend with wind, a downpour, no wind, and then the blazing sun – those who were out in the harbour when the wind dropped had a long slow drift back to shore – but this is all part of learning to sail.
Some new faces were welcomed to the sport and the team from last year were welcomed back – many of them have progressed to sailing as a team on the L26 class and crewing on the Keelers. We are also fortunate to have access to 4 Halcats which can be used for training on as well as the volunteered services of Mrs Jennifer Weyer, who coaches the boys.
On Wednesday night 31 January there was a great race in the Bay, with some new faces. Although the conditions were very windy, the crew sailed with level heads and very few mistakes were made. The new members had lots of fun and learnt a few things like a knot called a bowline and a few small but important parts of the boat such as the outhaul and kicker. The newcomers are showing a great deal of interest and have a lot of potential to become great sailors. The DHS sailing has a bright future.
On Friday 2 February we took out a Pacer for some sailing before a storm hit. We sailed to the opposite side of the harbour and saw the storm rolling in and decided to head back. However, the storm came sooner and stronger than expected and hit us as we were coming in to moor the boat. The wind pushed the boat into another boat and then our keel got caught in the other boat’s mooring lines. We were stuck in the storm and Matthew and Rijul went overboard for a swim when we were hit with a high wave and a very strong gust of wind. We recovered them just as quickly as they went over. We were rescued 10 minutes later and towed in to moor our boat. A very eventful Friday afternoon for the sailing team! Many thanks to Pat Bose and the rescue boat team for the tow.
